Conflict Over The Canopy

Complaints About The Messy Black Olive Tree Plague Plantation.

PLANTATION — This tree-friendly city has met the enemy, and it is the tree.

One specific type of tree, that is. And there's a great deal of irony in that discovery.

Plantation's logo is an oval-shaped tree. Half-century-old banyans grow over a stretch of Broward Boulevard near where the first Plantation homes were built.

Plantation has one of the only, if not the only, city halls in South Florida with a Landscape Architecture Department -- not just one urban forester or tree expert, but a staff of about 20 workers who help keep the plant in Plantation.

But all is not quiet in this central Broward town of more than 84,000 people and more than 20,000 trees lining the streets. City officials may soon consider changing Plantation's tree rules, partly to address the complaints about one type of tree -- the bucida buceras, commonly known as the Florida black olive.

"If I didn't have speeding in our city, traffic [problems] and black olives, I wouldn't get very many phone calls," City Council President Diane Veltri Bendekovic said.

Popular in the '70s for their ability to grow fast, black olive trees shed sticky leaves and berries that can stain a car hood or driveway. Residents have demanded more relaxed tree laws so they can chop down the black olives.

"We cannot even walk out onto our driveway without having worms fall on us from these trees," homeowner Paul Fox wrote in a May letter to City Hall.

"The roots are a real problem," said Michael Bassichis, who bought his house and black olive tree six years ago. "They lift up the driveways; they get into the asphalt."

Plantation homeowners can't just cut down annoying trees. The tree must cause permanent, structural damage -- such as a root system tearing into a water or sewer line. Many people ask for permits to remove trees and they're denied.

"If it's just dropping berries or dropping leaves, we typically do not give out a [removal] permit for that," said Jeff Siegel, who has worked as director of the city's Landscape Architecture Department for almost 20 years.

But many others do get permission, and there has been a "net loss" of trees in the city, Siegel said. Plantation granted 490 tree-removal permits last year, he said.

Siegel's department makes sure new development plans contain enough trees, helps people plant trees on swales and enforces city tree laws.City Hall staff members are proud of the national landscaping awards they've earned, and they pass along horticultural honors to landowners with the prettiest landscapes each year.

But anyone who breaks tree laws, can be fined.

Possibly as soon as September, Siegel wants to have a workshop to review the city's plan to manage its plant life. He and other staff members will suggest new rules to maintain trees and to "solve the black olive problem." Plantation has never discouraged people from planting black olives on public swales.

Changing tree rules in Plantation can be difficult. The city's very identity is partly built on its landscape and the tradition of planting and taking care of trees.

Plantation Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong is part of that tradition, as well.

Twenty years ago, she and other members of the Plantation Junior Women's Club helped plant trees in the median along Broward Boulevard.

Once, she even built her home a good distance from the road to avoid encroaching on a group of trees.

Now she's in the position of having to manage some of those trees, mostly the black olives that have grown to the point of becoming a problem.

Jeremy Milarsky can be reached at jmilarsky@sun-sentinel.com or call 954-572-2020.